Trump administration immigration agents are descending on Maine as a massive immigration enforcement sweep targets Somali immigrants, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
The operation marks the latest chapter in the administration's aggressive nationwide immigration crackdown following a controversial Minnesota campaign that sparked nationwide protests. That deployment drew intense scrutiny after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed Minneapolis mother Renee Good earlier this month.
Maine's Somali community, which began settling in Lewiston during the early 2000s, has swelled with recent asylum seekers from African nations who arrived under the Biden administration. Despite the growing population, Maine remains overwhelmingly white with an aging demographic, driving some employers to recruit immigrant workers to plug labor shortages.
The U.S. attorney's office pre-emptively put residents on notice to keep protests peaceful.
"In the coming days, if Maine citizens seek to exercise their rights to assemble and protest, it is vital that these protests remain peaceful,” said Andrew Benson, the U.S. attorney in the state. “Anyone who forcibly assaults or impedes a federal law enforcement officer, willfully destroys government property or unlawfully obstructs federal law enforcement activity commits a federal crime and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
ICE Deputy Assistant Director Patricia Hyde told Fox News the agency has "approximately 1,400 targets here in Maine," claiming the operation targets individuals with criminal histories.
The administration has aggressively pushed ICE to maximize arrests, at one point setting a goal of 3,000 daily apprehensions. Trump himself has relentlessly attacked Somali immigrants, previously describing them as "garbage" and calling on them to "go back to where they came from."
